Poem 70-72. This striking Maki Big Red has had a long history for being just 40 years old. It has seen the world and is now back in Asia, in Beijing. This is as near to Tokyo, where it was created by Maki, that it has been in many years. In this case, the big red letter is the hiragana "chi" ‚¿ or shiru, which means to know, find out, to learn, or have knowledge. This is a wonderful sweeping red stroke (actually two strokes) which whooshes across the black background like a meteor or comet streaking through the night. As knowledge cuts through ignorance perhaps. The cement was deeply incised to create the print. Maki normally used kanji in his prints; this is a rare case in which he used hiragana The red hiragana in the center is set off by a black Sun and a blue or purple splash to put a little color in the back sky. Size 24” x 17”. This print shows a rare use of hiragana by Maki.
41/106 Copyright by Daniel Tretiak